EBACE 2017, the 17th edition of Europe’s largest business aviation exhibition, launched yesterday with a spirited opening session, reflecting a growing sense of optimism in the industry. Brandon Mitchener, the European Business Aviation Association’s new CEO, pointed to signs of resurgence “after years of sluggishness,” with a steady growth in flight activity over the past six months. The EBAA itself, celebrating its 40th anniversary, has grown from 12 members at its launch in 1977 to 665 today, Mitchener said.

Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association, co-sponsor of EBACE, noted the industry’s role in job creation, economic development, humanitarian work, and green initiatives, all represented at EBACE, which “has always been about more than bringing buyers and sellers together.”

Keynote speaker Bertrand Piccard, chairman and pilot of Solar Impulse, which last year completed its solar-powered circumnavigation of the earth, delivered an inspiring presentation on the keys to achieving the impossible. He noted that people told him the solar-powered flight was impossible, as many said about a circumnavigation by balloon. “Why is it impossible?” he asked doubters. “The answer is always the same: ‘Because nobody has done it before.’ This is the most stupid answer you could ever get,” he said. Piccard stressed that the endeavor wasn't about setting aviation records but demonstrating the power of clean energy through a means that would capture the world's attention.

Piccard then presented the rules for succeeding against all odds:

“The first rule: Don’t try to convince everybody you are right. Get the support or endorsement of one person or institution that will give you credibility.” Piccard found that support from the Swiss Institute of Technology, which agreed to conduct a feasibility study of the project.

“The second rule: Try to make a win-win situation. Nobody will do it just to fulfill your dream.” The new president of the Swiss Institute wanted to unify the 14 laboratories in the institution, which had never worked together. The Solar Impulse project became a unifying vehicle.

“Rule three: Announce and publicize the project. When nobody knows what you’re working on, it becomes very tempting to give up. When the entire world knows, you can never give up.” As soon as the Institute determined it was theoretically possible to fly around the world on solar power, Piccard and partner André Borschberg held a press conference to announce their mission plans, and they were on the CNN news channel that night.

“Rule 4: You have to work with people who are completely different.” If teammates are similar, “maybe there’s no fight, but there’s no creativity.” He noted that Borschberg was a fighter jet pilot and engineer, while he is a balloonist and psychiatrist. “It creates a fantastic relationship of creativity. Sharing ideas aren’t important, we have to compare experiences, so one and one equals three.”

The Solar Impulse needed the wingspan of a Boeing 747 while weighing less than a car—ten times lighter comparatively that the most high performance glider. Piccard thought aircraft companies would compete for the chance to build the aircraft, but all turned their backs. (Dassault Aviation later provided engineering support.) “We felt a little like Dumbo, with big ears trailing on the floor and everybody making fun of us.”

They turned to a Swiss boat maker, designer of the yacht that won the America's Cup twice. “In a country with no access to the sea, that means the designers were very good,” Piccard said.

Piccard said the first good electric car didn’t come from an automaker but “a billionaire from the Internet who had no idea how to make a car.” Piccard’s grandfather, a pioneer of high-altitude ballooning, had to go to a beer-tank manufacturer to have a pressurized capsule built, because others said it was impossible. His father, the first to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest point in the ocean, had studied political economy and knew nothing about submarines. “Try to discover a completely new way to do it,” Piccard said, follow the rules, and nothing is impossible.